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166 MABIE ANTOINETTE.
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
I.
father : but in one respect—his love for the pleasures of the tablehonest Louis XVI . was essentially a Bourbon . The
voracious , appetite of Anne of Austria—the brown-hairecl mother with beautiful armsfromwhom Louis XXV . is said to
, , have inherited his graceful manners—was such as would horrify and astound the polite circles of modern society ; whilst the
" Grand Monarque" himself is said to have been little less distinguished for this rare facultyand occasionally performed
feats worthy of a royal ogre . , Certain it is , that a false brilliancy has long dazzled the eyes of mankind with regard to
the grandeur and elegance of the selfish courts of these times : and it is well perhaps that a nearer acquaintance with facts
should do something to dispel the illusion . But the sober husband of Marie Antoinette did not
condescend to many of the weaknesses which would be considered only as vulgar and degrading in humble and
undignified circles . Probably he had before him the continual recollection of his neglected and heart-broken Polish mother
devoting herself to the care of her children , and endeavouring , to relieve her years of desolation by the resources of drawing
and painting . Charity was the only relaxation of Marie Leckzinsky , who never would give fetes because , she said , the
people paid for them with the sweat of their brow . " Her son Louis was not usually remarkable for his witand perchance
had learnt his smart saying from the daughter , of Stanislaus , when once caught in visiting the poorhe exclaimedthat all
his pages were free to enjoy their little adventures , , and , it were hard that hefrom his rankshould be debarred from his . At
any rate , as , soon as he recognized , the duties of his manhood , it was contemptuously remarked that he resembled the poorest
democrat in the unfashionable attention he paid to his Austrian bride . Marie , on her part , blossomed out into fresh beauty
under the invigorating influence of love . She began to take a new " pleasure in her power to please ; " ordering for the first time
diamonds and jewels which she had never cared for before , and proficiency inviting Gluck in the , her science former of music sweet master sounds , . that Truth she mi to g say ht gain the
education of Marie Antoinette had not been very satisfactory , . She naively confessed that she had never done a single stroke
to the drawings sent over as her performances by her shrewd and calculating mother ; and as to her musical skillshe
prudently persisted in permitting no listeners at her mysterious , performances . It soon began to be whispered abroad that
her majesty was somewhat silly , and rather comically ignorant . And the scornful gossips who shrugged their shoulders at this
tal ar k , s littl to e e x guessed cel in the that wis this dom _xioble of the h y ea was rtfa destined r rior to future that
ye , supe
166 Mabie Antoinette.
166 MABIE ANTOINETTE .
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Nov. 2, 1863, page 166, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_02111863/page/22/
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